


Spilled Stuffing

by AGStudio9



Category: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story
Genre: Ashley Taylor Memoria, Canon-Typical Violence, Doppel - Freeform, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, slightly AU, takes place during arc 1 chapter 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27376444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGStudio9/pseuds/AGStudio9
Summary: After a normal shopping trip, Ashley is attacked by a mysterious magical girl in a black cloak, who's lashing out unintelligibly. Forced to fight, her most treasured possession ends up caught in the crossfire.
Relationships: Ashley Taylor & Riko Chiaki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Spilled Stuffing

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic for the Ashley Taylor Memoria Vine! (you can find it on tumblr) It's my first time posting on AO3, so any feedback is appreciated!
> 
> a teddy bear was harmed in this fic :(

Ashley looked over the display in front of her, buttons and pins lined up in neat rows. There were so many- some shaped like ribbons and jewels, others cats and dogs, characters from anime and flowers galore. They were all so kawaii!

But she couldn't take all of them- she only had enough of her allowance left to get three. So she carefully examined them, trying to decide which ones would be the best.

She had gone out in casual clothes after finishing up school today, and was wearing pink overalls over a black shirt with a cat printed on the front, both having light green accents. Under her arm was a red, pink and black bag that was already covered in various kawaii buttons, with her treasured bear, Kumonosuke, poking out of it. 

In the end, she was able to narrow down her choices, taking the three buttons up to the register. The first one was circular, with a poodle wearing a top hat and winking, the kanji for "Sugoi!" coming out of a speech bubble. The other two were enamel, the second shaped like a bow with a sparkling jewel in the center, and the last a bunny with a black hat and bow, the perfect, kawaii kind of goth lolita!

"I'd like to buy these please!" Ashley said. 

The cashier smiled, taking a second to look at the buttons. "You have a good eye, these are really cute." he rang up the price, getting out a little bag to put them in as she paid.

The bag was cute, but... "You don't need to do that!" she said, holding out her hand. "I was planning on putting them on right away!"

"Ok then!" the man dropped them into her open palm, waving as she walked towards the door. "Please come again!"

"Don't worry, I will!" she responded, going out onto the busy streets of Daito ward. Once out of the shop, Ashley took a second to fasten the pins to her bag, holding it up and snapping a picture of them with her phone. She began texting it to her mom as she started walking, practice letting her weave through the crowd with ease. 

She always made sure to take pictures of all the kawaii things she got to her mom, to show her all the wonderful things she was finding here in japan. Her mom was always really supportive, and was doing her best to learn the culture from back in the states.

"I got some new pins today!" she sent along with the picture. A minute later, she got a message back.

"Kawaii! But remember to keep up on your studies, ok?"

Ashley rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "I will mom."

"Kumonosuke is looking good! Have you uploaded any new videos recently?"

She scrolled up a bit to see the picture again. Though her new buttons were the focus, Kumonosuke, the treasured bear from her father, could be seen poking out of the bag, tongue lolling over the edge. 

Smiling, she moved her arm to pat him on the head. She always took Kumonosuke with her, even into dangerous places like witch labyrinths. It always made her happy when someone commented on the precious bear, or gave him a compliment. 

"He's doing great! I haven't uploaded any new videos, but I've been working on-"

Ashley stopped, looking at her phone in confusion. The signal had gone dead. She checked the settings, but her phone couldn't pick up anything. No cell, no wifi, nothing.

She looked up, head turning back and forth as she tried to spot the source of her conundrum. But there was nothing around. Actually, there was nothing around. Where had everyone gone?

Dropping her phone into her bag, Ashley got on edge. "Did something happen? Or maybe... a Witch?"

She'd never heard of a witch influencing so many people at once, but there were rumors of ones powerful enough to do so. And there wasn't any cell signal in labyrinths...

She heard something behind her, and whipped around to see a magical girl donned in a black robe, standing on a nearby rooftop. Her teeth were bared like an animal, and she was hunched in a position to jump.

"Hey, do you know what's going on?" she called, but something about this new girl set her on edge. Something wasn't right here.

In lieu of a response, the girl let out a vicious growl, jumping down without care for her own safety or potential witnesses. With a yelp, Ashley ran back, ducking into a nearby alley and transforming with a flash and pop of smoke.

Kumonosuke hovered next to her, ready to pounce, as bear-bombs circled her head. The cloaked girl stalked into they alley, shoulders hunched.

"You better tell me what's going on!" she demanded. 

The girl growled again. "Vvvrragh!" she yelled, chains shooting out from under her cloak. Ashley jumped to avoid them, grabbing onto the fire escape. "Wow! Careful where you swing that thing." there was no visible response to her words however, just another swipe of the chains that knocked the bottom of the metal structure off.

"Doesn't look like you're gonna stop, huh." Ashley said, hoisting herself up and running to the top of the fire escape, before climbing up to the roof.

She didn't want to fight a fellow magical girl- they were all supposed to work together to fight witches after all! But it didn't look like the black-cloaked girl could be reasoned with. She'd have to try and lose her.

Ashley hadn't met many magical girls in Kamihama yet, but one group that she had met had called themselves "The Wings of the Magius" and had asked if she was interested in "liberation".

She'd told them that she had no idea what they were talking about, and after that they'd gotten pretty standoffish. She'd taken note to avoid them since then. All of those girls had worn the same kind of cloaks that this one was wearing, calling themselves white and black feathers.

If this was what their "liberation" looked like, then she was glad she'd kept away.

Bounding across the rooftop, she kept her distance from the cloaked girl, throwing the occasional Bear-bomb to try and stun or confuse her, but she was relentless in her pursuit. 

But Ashley was going faster, so she'd probably be able to-

The thought was interrupted by something barreling into her, knocking the air out of her lungs. Ashley skid across the rooftop, coughing, before looking up to see another girl with black robes, this one having two scythes coming out of her cloak. 

Behind her, the girl with chains landed on the roof, letting out a vicious growl. Ashley got up, summoning more bear bombs that circled around her in increasingly frantic movements. Beside her, Kumonosuke was hunched forward, prepared to launch into action. 

"Two versus one? Looks like it'll be a fair fight!" Ashley said. She didn't want to fight them, but it looks like there was no choice. But that was ok, she was strong. Though the malicious aura they emitted made her think that it wouldn't be so easy.

Before any of them could move, another figure stepped out onto the rooftop from the shadows of the incoming sunset. This one was dressed in a white robe, and had a sword floating on either side of her. The aura she emitted was much worse and much darker than that of the other two.

"Three versus one. That's- that's ok. I can do this!" she said. Behind her, Kumonosuke pumped a fist. She was controlling him using her special power, which let her control something else's movements. But it still felt like a vote of confidence, the bear being with her her no matter if they were buying pins or fighting witches, or in this case, crazed magical girls. 

She jumped forward, dodging a swipe from the scythe-girl as she sent a bear-bomb into her face. This one was more flash than damage though, and caused the girl's vision to go spotty. 

She swung around wildly, and with no cohesion, Ashley was able to run forward and elbow her in the stomach, causing her to gasp, but she didn't fall.

In fact, the blow seemed to give her some kind of focus, and her next swipe went high, coming startlingly close to Ashley's neck.

She jumped backwards, hand hesitantly coming to her throat, just above her soul gem. Were they- were they trying to kill her?

Gulping, she sent out more bombs. "Looks like I won't be able to hold back!" she said, sounding more confident than she felt.

Meanwhile, Kumonosuke was fighting the girl with chains, his ability to float preventing most of the attacks from landing. She seemed to think of him as an annoyance, trying to get around to get to Ashley. 

No such luck however. 

The bear was releasing bear-bombs in a flurry towards her, Ashley's decision to not hold back bleeding through. By now, the roof was covered in glitter and paint from the bombs.

She continued trying to get around, but when the bear once again stopped her, she growled, backhanding the stuffed animal down to the gravel.

"Kumonosuke!" Ashley yelled, looking back in shock. The lapse in concentration caused her to be hit by the flat part of the scythe, knocking her to the ground.

The two black cloaked girls began closing in, feral growls slipping out though their teeth.

Behind her, the white-robed girl approached, sword raised above her hand.

As they all closed in, Ashley realized she was trapped. She couldn't use her bombs this close without risking hurting herself, and kumonosuke was out of commission.

She shut her eyes as she raised the sword, letting out a vicious yell before swinging down. "VvvrrrRRAGH!"

"Ashley!"

Suddenly, she opened her eyes to see that the sword had been knocked aside by a giant purple bento pick, with grapes on the top. She looked over and saw someone running over from a nearby rooftop, wearing a white and blue magical girl dress.

"Riko!" she got up, running over to her. The attackers had backed off, and were currently regrouping. "I'm so glad you came! I was-" she suddenly stopped, taking her in.

She knew that Riko was a magical girl, but she'd never seen her transformed before. It looked like she'd gotten into a fight before this, but she was just so- so-

"Kawaiii!" she squealed, eyes sparkling. "You're so cute, you look like a little bento chef! And your ribbons match your eyes and your big white cloak makes you look like an angel! And- eeeeeeeee!" she squealed again, causing Riko to cover her ears. "Magical girl outfits are all so kawaii!"

"Thank you, but we have to go!" Riko said, grabbing her hand. "There's an emergency and we have to go to the coordinator's!"

"Do you know what's going on?" Ashley asked, coming back to the situation at hand. "These girls just attacked me out of nowhere!"

She looked a little more unsure now. "Well, no, but a kind miss who was a magical girl saved me from some more like them and then told me to go to the coordinator's for safety, we've got to go!"

Ashley squeezed her hand, but looked back at the feathers, who were once again preparing to attack. "I think we should take care of these guys first, who knows what kind of havoc they could cause if we leave them alone!"

Riko looked down. "Well, the kind miss did fight them off before asking me to go..." she huffed, summoning another bento pick, this one yellow with an orange at the top. "Ok, I'll help you fight!"

"Thanks, Riko!" she responded, summoning more bear bombs. All at once, they leapt back into action. 

Riko ran towards the one with the chains, jumping over a strike before stabbing her pick into the gravel, keeping her from behind able to use one of the chains. She did it again when the other chain shot forward, the pick she summoned being green with a lime slice on top.

For a second, the black-robed girl seemed confused at what to do without her weapons, before leaping forward with a yell. "Vvvvvrrrragh!" Riko yelped as she was tackled, the black feather looming over her.

A small bomb shaped like a bear-head suddenly knocked into her, sending her off-course and letting Riko scramble to safety. She smiled at Ashley, from where she was doing her best to keep her distance from the other two attackers.

Taking a deep breath, Riko summoned another pick, throwing it at the girl. It hit dead-on, causing her to stumble back, before darting into the shadows. Sometime during the fight the sun had set, and now it was nighttime, both the roof and street illuminated by streetlamps. 

One down, two do go.

Riko ran to join Ashley in the fray, as she jumped over a swipe from the scythe, before having to dodge midair from one of the swords swinging right at her. The other sword caught her off guard, aiming right where she was going to land. Oh no, she wouldn't be able to dodge-

It was knocked off course from a bat by Riko using the wide end of her bento pick. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Thanks to you!" she said. Ashley wasn't a good close-range fighter, and Riko's pick didn't look like it would work very well against the blades.

"I'm gonna use my special power!" she said, "can you help me get the black feather still?"

Riko nodded. "Leave it to me!" she ran forward, using her weapon to block most of the hits. After a particularly large swing that left her open, Riko jumped, tackling the attacker to the ground.

Ashley ducked around from where she was holding off the white feather, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. In a second, her magic flowed through, giving her control of the girl's body. "Sorry about this." she said, as the girl floated into the air. "But you didn't give me much of a choice!"

The other one was confused at being attacked by a former comrade, but it didn't take long for her to start lashing out at her too. blades clashed. Riko took a second to catch her breath, as Ashley concentrated on controlling the unfamiliar body. 

"Ashley, your soul gem!" Riko suddenly said.

"What? Is something wrong?" she asked, turning away from the battle.

"It's really dark- you're almost out of magic!"

Ashley looked down, and sure enough, her soul gem had gotten very dark. It would be dangerous to use too much more. Reluctantly, she released her hold on the feather, who dropped to the ground, before quickly running off into the shadows. 

Only the white feather remained, now. And she was not going to hold back.

The swords came viciously and without restraint, keeping her distance while still forcing them into a melee fight. Riko was doing ok, but Ashley was lagging badly, barely being able to summon any bear-bombs to fight.

A sword clipped her shoulder, and she grabbed it, wincing as blood began to flow around her torn sleeve. 

She turned around, prepared to see the sword swooping back, once again aiming for her neck, but-

Instead, she heard a ripping sound, and froze as she took in the sight in front of her.

Kumonosuke, who'd been forgotten on the roof after she'd lost control of him. 

Kumonosuke, with a sword through his belly, stuffing spilling out onto the gravel.

Kumonosuke, her greatest treasure, and final present from her daddy.

The sword slowly pulled out, pointing back towards her.

A dark feeling filled up her guts, growing bigger, bigger, until it threatened to swallow her whole.

Then, it rose.

"Kumonosuke..." she whispered. Nearby, Riko gasped as a dark shape rose from Ashley's soul gem, popping off of her head. It condenced into a creature made of wigs and hair extensions, six eyes poking out from the middle. It began to spin, lightning ricocheting across it.

She backed up, as the creature set its sights on the maddened feather.

Then, the lights came together, a rainbow beam shooting off towards her. It enveloped her in light, before dispersing a second later. The ground had been covered in ribbons, glitter and paint, including the girl herself, who now had a bow around her neck and lace along the edge of her cloak, glitter covering her head.

She fell to the ground, boneless, and Riko breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that she was still breathing. Ashley too feel to the ground a moment later, the... creature... she'd summoned disappearing. 

"Ashley!" she ran over to her, shaking her until she groaned. "Are you ok? What was that?"

She didn't seem to notice her, instead looking out at something across the roof. "Kumonosuke..."

"Your bear?" Riko walked over to pick it up. It had been stabbed, and stuffing was leaking out of it, so Riko did her best to grab as much of it as possible. (she was so glad her magical girl outfit had pockets)

She handed the bear back to Ashley, who cried in relief, hugging it close. Riko got up, looking around nervously. "Come on, we've got to go to the coordinator's, before more of those guys show up!"

But when she looked back down, it became quite obvious that at some point, Ashley had passed out.

"Oh no, what am I gonna do..." Riko worried. "No, wait! I'm a magical girl!" she said, before bending down, lifting up Ashley until she was supporting her with her shoulder. "Ok, let's go!"

It was slow going, but she was doing well. Ashley still clung to Kumonosuke, even as she slept.

Ashley slowly came to, realizing that she was now inside of a large room with blue-tinted windows and a plethora of couches and chairs- the coordinator's place.

She held her head as she got up. "What happened?" she groaned.

"Ashley?" she looked over to see Riko sitting next to her on the couch. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! I was so worried after that monster came out of you, but you're ok!"

"Monster?" she didn't remember that. All she remembered was... "Kumonosuke!" she suddenly yelled, looking around. "Do you know where he-"

"Oh! He's here!" Riko said, pulling him out from behind her. "You were hugging him the whole time we were coming here, but we had to get him away from you while we did some first aid. I carried you at first, but I wouldn't have made it if we hadn't run into another magical girl who was also going this way. She helped a lot!"

The words washed over Ashley meaninglessly as she took hold of her precious, precious kumonosuke, stuffing still spilling out of his wound. Her eyes began to water as she hugged him close.

"Hey, are you ok?" Riko said, taking her arm. "Don't worry, we managed to find some needle and thread! I would've done it myself, but I'm really clumsy, so I thought it'd be better for you to patch him up!"

Ashley looked up at the tools that Riko was handing out to her with an uneasy smile. Taking a big sniff, Ashley rubbed her eyes on her sleeve, before taking a deep breath.

"Thanks Riko." she said, smiling. "You saved me and Kumonosuke! I owe you one, ok?"

The worry evaporated from Riko, and she smiled big. "You're welcome!"

Ashley began to thread the needle, thinking about the bear that now rested on her lap. Kumonosuke had been there to support her in buying buttons, fighting witches, and even her father's passing. Now she was going to help him, patching him back up and sewing him back together. 

She worked for a while, finishing up the front and making good progress on the back, before the coordinator herself, Mitama Yakumo, walked to the of the room, in front of the crowd of Magical girls. 

"I'm sorry you had to wait so long. I'll tell you all I know..."


End file.
